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Decision due in a year on North Fork wells

Ruidoso needs the wells for water supply, but massive fire changed conditions

By Dianne Stallings

dstallings@ruidosonews.com @RuidosoNews on Twitter

Posted:
01/22/2014 04:57:21 AM MST

The North Fork Well Field lies along Eagle Creek. (Dianne Stallings — Ruidoso News)

Smokey Bear District officials are working on a supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement required before the issuance of a permit to set operation standards and allow pumping of village of Ruidoso wells located on the Lincoln National Forest, a U.S. Forest Service officials said.

Reporting to the Lincoln County Commission last week, Todd Rawllinson, wildlife specialist with the Smokey Bear Ranger District, said the original DEIS was published in May 2012, which initiated a public comment period. But three weeks later, the Little Bear Fire erupted, burning 98 percent of the watershed. Because of the changed conditions, the forest supervisor cancelled the environmental statement and ended the comment period, Rawlinson said.

Forest service officials are conducting a supplemental analysis to account for the changed conditions, which should result in a decision by December 2014, he said.

The North Fork wells on Eagle Creek are a vital factor in the water supply system for the village. The draft EIS proposed reducing the amount of water that could be pumped and imposing other restrictions in part based on the contention of downstream land owners that pumping of village wells impaired their wells. The process of issuing a new permit has dragged on for years.

Rawlinson was sitting in for Smokey Bear District Ranger Dave Warnack and was accompanied by Larry Cordova, wildlife biologist.

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Rawlinson reported that two decisions were signed in September to reauthorize grazing in East Hale Lake and Hale Lake grazing allotments. Both decisions were appealed in December by a group interested in range improvement across the West, he said. The decision and appeal are under review by a regional office appeal review team in Albuquerque. He said Warnack hopes for a decision by Jan. 30.

A decision to allow salvage logging in the Loma Grande area burned by the Little Bear Fire in 2012 was signed in September and no one appealed, he said.

"The job should bee advertised soon," because time is running out. Logging after a fire usually must occur within two to three years to get value from the standing timber, he said.

In other news, Rawlinson said the district is working with representatives of Eastern New Mexico University to plan a forest health exposition set for April 11-12, at the Ruidoso Convention Center.

"On the wildlife side, I'm working directly with the state under the (Habitat Stamp Program fund) for a project on Grindstone Mesa to create a wetlands similar to the one at Blue Lake," Rawlinson said. The goal is to reestablish water for longer periods of time, because of persistent drought conditions over the last few years, he said. "We have water catchment tanks all over the district in areas that are historically dry that wildlife can use."

Responding to a comment from Commissioner Kathryn Minter that she appreciated Warnack and Sean Donaldson tending to trails in areas of the forest around Nogal that were found during a recent search and rescue not to be marked correctly, Rawlinson said the district is bringing on some volunteer groups this summer to handle improved signage and extending the signs further into the wilderness.

The district has operated without a wilderness technician for several years, he said. Donaldson stepped into that role and is "inventorying everything he can," Rawlinson said. Minter said that effort will help Texans who get lost and those who try to rescue them.

"We have a strong responsibility to keep trails maintained and signed," Rawlinson said. To initiate a rescue is costly, "but human safety is number one," he said.

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